 |
| DIRECTED BY |
| Joel Schumacher |
| STARRING |
| Colin Farrell |
| Kiefer Sutherland |
| Forest Whitaker |
| Katie Holmes |
| Radha Mitchell |
 |
Recalling his 1993 effort �Falling Down,� Joel Schumacher has developed something of a habit of making films about unstable men who�ve become disgusted with the society that they live in. Unlike in �Falling Down,� however, the societal rebel in �Phone Booth� isn�t looked upon sympathetically. In this sense, Schumacher has recycled one of his previous storylines but shifted the perspectives; so, which one works better, you ask? Answer: �Phone Booth.�
Once you get through watching the film�s opening sequence � which plays like the telecommunications commercial that AT&T didn�t want you to see, you�ll experience a cinematic roller-coaster ride � it�s certainly not devoid of its bumpy parts, but it�s fun (and not completely brainless, either.)
Schumacher wisely swallowed his desire to recklessly swerve about the road of filmmaking in order to create a myriad of convoluted situations; instead, he channeled this instinct into creating a succinct film that hurries along, which is the quality that �Falling Down� lacked but dearly needed.
The pace of �Phone Booth� is its best quality, but that doesn�t make it a great film. It tends to lean into the direction of glorifying an insane killer whose actual purpose is to (obtensibly) facilitate our society because it�s been swept up within its own monotonous ignorance and that whole tiresome clich�. Even though Schumacher has drastically limited his scope (pun alert!) here, he�s still managed to direct a film with a story that ultimately caused me to have to seriously stretch my imagination to believe that it doesn�t contain any plotholes. There isn�t much to be said about the performances, but Colin Farrell�s accent does do a number of odd transformations.
The final plot-twist is quite predictable; it fails with trying to convey a cautionary moral message about the attitudes of the modern public, but by this time the film has accumulated enough points in the �suspenseful entertainment� department to prevent itself from falling into the realm of ridiculousness. If one decides to forgive the illogicalities and clich�s of �Phone Booth,� then they�ll likely be able to appreciate its sleek, terse rhythm.
